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Cheap Drugs Won't
Solve Asia's AIDS Crisis

Updated April 3, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

By George W. Russell, a Hanoi-based writer.

W hen pharmaceutical companies sharply reduced prices on drugs used to treat AIDS patients recently, the move was hailed by the international community. But despite the obvious benefits, the new drug distribution may have an unintended side effect. The prospect of a "quick fix" for existing HIV cases is threatening to take the spotlight off the single most important factor in...